Wednesday, July 08, 2009

We had sooooooooooo much fun at VBS this year! Az5 got to go, since I was a teacher, and had her own class. Az3 and Az4 each had their own classes, and it was great to see them doing their own thing each day. I taught 4/5 grade crafts, and it was really nice. (Hint hint Faye, I would do that again...lol!)

Our theme was The Boomerang Express - It All Comes Back to Jesus, and our church had a magnificent stage - the locomotive even blew steam out its smoke stack! The kids loved singing the songs and doing the motions, and were always excited to go to their classes. (Except Az5 on the last day, but we were all tired then...) My kids were great - we had prayed over our classroom and hallways the Sunday before it started, so what did you expect? ;) ) and we had really good crafts to do as well: rain stick, boomerang, ABCs of salvation bracelet, stepping stones, and bandannas.

Thursday night, we had a Family Night - everyone came back up to church around 6 for food, jumpers for the kids, touring the classes, a small worship service, and the coolest little animal show. A local place had brought in some animals from Australia, and they did a great job of tying the animals to our theme as well as to the lessons the kids had learned during VBS. Overall, I think it was probably one of the best VBS' we have ever been to, and I am so thankful for a church that thinks VBS is important as well as all the people that helped - especially with my kiddos!

This year we went to GrandMommy and GranDaddy's house, from Thursday night until Monday afternoon. We had a blast! We truly swam our guts out all day Friday and Saturday there, but the weather didn't cooperate on Sunday. That ended up being better anyways - we were all so tired, I don't think we could have enjoyed another day in the pool!

My mom cooked her usual gourmet meals while we were there: cornbread with blackeyed peas and fried okra, grilled steaks with mashed potatoes, and then of course we just had to force ourselves to eat leftovers on Sunday! We had a blast with our illegal sparklers in their backyard on the 4th, and really enjoyed watching the New York city and Boston fireworks shows on TV - but have to confess that Boston's was better - better music and just better fireworks overall.

We were so excited to see our friends and family while we were there too! I got to see a good friend from work days at lunch on Friday, at one of my faves - Rosa's! Yum....getting hungry just thinking about it. :) Plus Cousin Scott and his wife Lanissa came over that afternoon - she is so cute and preggers now. (And we're thankful that their ultrasound on Tuesday not only showed them what they wanted to see but that Little Fitz is healthy too!) We also visited our old church on Sunday morning - being a holiday not a lot of people were there, but we were so blessed to see old friends and hug some necks. Plus, Sunday night we went over to our very good friends' house to play and run around and pop "big" firecrackers. The kids were so cute - they oooohed and aaahhhed appropriately all night long!

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

So, I went to the dentist in April, and I had to have a really icky root canal done on one of my molars. (Long story short: we went 7-8 yrs w/o dental insurance and thus didn't see a dentist, and now I am in payback mode...) My dentist said I needed to see a root canal specialist, an endodontist, and so I started searching for one. Not a single one where we live. So I searched my parents' neck of the woods. Nada. Zip. My options came up to seeing my brother, sister, or my in-laws. I chose them because neither my sister or brother really have the space for me and the kids to invade like we would need to for this trip.

So we then decided to hit my parents' house and stay a couple of nights on our way to Grammy and Papa's for the actual appointments. It is only 15-16 hours if we didn't stop...We were there for my mom's birthday which was nice, and it really helped to break up the trip - especially their swimming pool!

We had a great time at Grammy and Papa's house too. The endodontist there was superb!! I'd go again to him if he'd just move his office closer. ;) We played at a park one day, went swimming at the country club one day, and even got to see Uncle JD one day too. Then we drove back home, stopping again at GrandMommy's house for a night, and we were all sooooooooo glad to be home by the time we got back. (Even though we really had a blast! We were gone for 8 days...)

While we were gone on my "dental" vacation, Az5 decided to give up the paci. This was a BIG deal, as she was previously sleeping with 2 - one in the hand, one in the mouth. I'd never replaced them, and so right before we left, she threw one away of her own accord - it was "yucky"....translation: she had chewed a hole in it and couldn't suck on it any more. So, after we got to Grammy's house, she tried to throw the other one away. I told her to wait and give it to the B Fairy (thank you Supernanny!) and she agreed.

That night, while she didn't really give it to the B Fairy, she went to bed without asking for it. So the B Fairy came anyway, took the "B" (for Binky...) back to B land, and left her a new big Groovy Girls doll that she can sleep with instead. She was sooooo excited to open it, and find that the doll has her own sleeping bag.

Now she did ask for the B back a few times later on the trip, but my reply was that I didn't have it to give to her - the B Fairy had taken it. So her reply was,"Just go to the store and get me a new one please." LOL! Such a smarty pants! We didnt', and while she now doesn't seem to be terribly thrilled with the doll, she hasn't asked for the B since we got home.

So for the unitiated, Az4's nickname has always been The Bug...specifically our Ladybug. In May, our local gardens downtown had their annual ladybug release day, and since Az3 and Az5 were still in school, I took her to this that morning before school. It was our last date for Kindergarten, which made it even more special, as she'll be in school all day next year. (And no, I'm not ready for that!)

We got everyone else to their spots and arrived a few minutes late - I was worried that all the ladybugs would have already been released. Oh no! They only had 5000 for the public to release, and they were all in the little cups like you get condiments in at Rosa's or some restaurant, about 20 to a cup. Needless to say, there were plenty! We each picked up a cup, and wandered around - there were a lot of people there, especially a lot of strollers, and we wanted to find a spot where we could watch our little ladies go. It was so cute! She opened the lid and they burst out - but all over her! She giggled, and we both had a great time making sure we got them on plants and not us, plus we wandered around the garden for a few minutes, seeing all the other gazillion ladybugs that had been released. Such a sweet and special day for her and Mommy! :)